Firm Tackles Boynton Project

Engineers will have to excavate the massive cove from the eastern shore of the Intracoastal Waterway just north of Boynton Beach Boulevard. They will also have to construct a system of canals between the cove and the Intracoastal to ensure water quality in the area.

Community Redevelopment Agency members late last week chose the engineering firm that will be responsible for the construction of the cove. D.M. Ambrose Associates Inc. of Boca Raton was chosen from an original field of 56 applicants. In the next several weeks, city officials will attempt to negotiate a contract with the firm.

``We`re very excited about this project,`` company president Michael Ambrose said. ``It will be challenging and fun to work through all the intricacies.``

The cove and a boardwalk slated to be built along the cove will be among the main drawing cards to the downtown area, according to the plan for downtown revitalization prepared by the Community Redevelopment Agency. The cove is intended to attract pedestrian shoppers into the area.

Shops, office buildings and residential units will be constructed in the area surrounding the cove, according to the plan.

Designing such a project alone would be challenging, according to Ambrose. But an adjoining cluster of environmentally sensitive, state-protected mangroves adds to the project`s complexity.

City officials must go through a detailed permit process with county, state and federal officials before disturbing any area where mangroves grow.

``We`ll have a lot of concerns,`` said Jim Berry, environmental administrator for Palm Beach County. Berry works with local Department of Environmental Regulation officials in the permitting process. ``We`ll be looking at a variety of factors that could have impact on the mangroves and the wetlands.``

Among those factors are possible pollutants the project could manufacture and the disturbance from the proposed excavation, Berry said.

Mangroves are tropical plants that grow in swampy ground along the water`s edge. They are protected by state and federal law because they constitute the beginning of the marine food chain, according to Dr. Manley Boss, a botanist with Florida Atlantic University. Boss serves as the head of a environmental team which will work with D.M. Ambrose engineers.

``The problem facing the city will be coming to terms with the various governmental organizations that measure the effects of the project,`` Boss said.

Larry O`Donnell, dredge and fill supervisor of the DER`s West Palm Beach office, said his office would work closely with city officials and the engineering firm during the application process. He and Berry would serve as the city`s ``pre-consultants,`` attempting to come up with a proposal that would satisfy both parties.

DER would have two main concerns according to O`Donnell: minimizing destruction of the mangroves, and ensuring that water quality surrounding the mangroves is kept high.

The county has 90 days to review a completed application for a permit, O`Donnell said.

If DER and the county approved the city`s proposal, it would go before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As part of the corps` review, the application would also be reviewed by the National Marine Fisheries Commission, the Fish and Wildlife Group of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he added.